The epistle of James is not addressed to the assembly, and
does not take the ground of apostolic authority over the persons
to whom it is sent. It is a practical exhortation which still
recognises the twelve tribes and the connection of the christian
Jews with them, as Jonah addressed the Gentiles, although the
Jewish people had their place before God. Thus the Spirit of God
still acknowledges here the relationship with Israel, as in the
other case the relationship with Gentiles, and the rights of God
which are unchangeable, whatever may be the special privileges
granted to the assembly or to Israel respectively. We know that
historically the christian Jews remained Jews to the end of the
New Testament history, and were even zealous for the law -- to us
a strange thing, but which God endured for a time.

The doctrine of Christianity is not the subject of this
epistle. It gives God His place in the conscience, and with
regard to all that surrounds us. It thus girds up the lions of
the Christian, presenting also the near coming of the Lord and
His present discipline -- a discipline with respect to which the
assembly of God ought to possess intelligence, and activity
founded thereon. The world also, and all that makes an appearance
in it, is judged from God's point of view.

A few remarks on the position of Christians (that is, on the
way in which this position is viewed with respect to Israel) will
help us to understand this portion of the Word.

Israel is still regarded as the people of God. To the faith of
James the nation has still the relationship which God had given
it towards Himself. The Christians in it are addressed as still
forming part of a people whose links with God were not yet
judicially broken; but it was only the Christians among them who
possessed the faith which the Spirit gave in the true
Messiah. These only among the people, with the writer,
acknowledged Jesus as the Lord of glory. With the exception of
verses 14, 15, in James 5, this epistle contains no exhortation
which, in its spiritual height, goes beyond that which might be
addressed to a godly Jew. It supposes indeed that the persons to
whom it speaks have faith in the Lord Jesus; but it does not call
them to that which is exclusively proper to Christianity and
depends on its privileges. The exhortations flow from that higher
source and breathe the more heavenly atmosphere, but the effect
they aim at producing consists in real proofs of religion here
below; they are such as might be heard in the professing church
-- a vast body like Israel, in the midst of which some Christians
existed.

The epistle is not founded on christian relationships here
below. It acknowledges them; but only as one fact in the midst of
others, which have rights over the conscience of the writer. It
supposes those whom it addresses to be in a relationship with
God, which is known, unquestioned, and of ancient date; in the
midst of which Christianity has been introduced.

It is important to notice the moral measure of the life which
this epistle presents. As soon as we apprehend the position in
which it views believers, the discernment of the truth on this
point is not difficult. It is the same as that which Christ
presented when walking in the midst of Israel and setting before
His disciples the light, and the relationships with God, which
resulted to them from His presence. Now indeed He was absent; but
that light and those relationships are retained as the measure of
responsibility. And this the Lord's return would vindicate by
judgment on those who refused to accept and walk in it. Until
that day the faithful were to be patient in the midst of the
oppression they were suffering from on the part of the Jews, who
still blasphemed the holy name by which they were called.

It is the converse of the epistle to the Hebrews with regard
to their relationship with the Jewish nation; not morally, but
because of the nearness of the judgment when the epistle to the
Hebrews was written.

The fundamental principles of the position that we have been
speaking of are as follows: the law in its spirituality and
perfection, as stated and summed up by Christ; a life imparted,
which has the moral principles of the law, itself a divine life;
the revelation of the Father's name. All this was true when the
Lord was on the earth, and was the ground on which (however
poorly they understood it) He then placed His disciples. He told
them that they were to be witnesses of it, as of all He had said,
after His death, distinguishing this testimony from that of the
Holy Ghost.

It is this which James teaches here, with the addition of that
which the Lord had also said -- that He would come again. It is
the doctrine of Christ with regard to walk in the midst of
Israel, according to the light and the truths which He had
introduced; and -- seeing that He was still absent -- an
exhortation to perseverance and patience in that walk, waiting
for the moment when, by judgment on those who oppressed them, He
would vindicate the principles on which they walked.

Although the judgment executed on Jerusalem changed the
position of the remnant of Israel in this respect, yet the life
of Christ remains ever our model: and we have to wait with
patience until the Lord come.

We have not in this epistle the association of the Christian
with Christ exalted on high, nor consequently the thought of
going to meet Him in the air, as Paul taught. But that which it
contains ever remains true: and he who says that he abides in Him
(Christ) ought also to walk even as He walked.

The judgment that was coming makes us understand the way in
which James speaks of the world, of the rich who rejoice in their
portion in the world, and the position of the believing remnant
oppressed and suffering in the midst of the unbelieving nation;
why he begins with the subject of the tribulations and so often
recurs to it: why also he insists on practical evidences of
faith. He still sees all Israel together; but some had received
faith in the Lord of glory, and these were tempted to value the
rich and the great in Israel. All being still Jews, we can easily
understand that, while some truly believed and confessed their
belief that Jesus was the Christ, yet, as these Christians
followed the Jewish ordinances, mere professors might do as much
without the least vital change being proved by their works. It is
evident that a faith like this has no value whatever. It is
precisely the faith of those who clamour for works in the present
day -- a mere dead profession of the truth of Christianity. To be
begotten by the word of truth is as foreign and strange to them
as to the Jews of whom James is speaking.

Believers being thus placed in the midst of Israel with some
who merely professed faith, we can readily understand the
apostle's address to the mass as those who might share in the
privileges that existed in their midst; his address to Christians
as having a special place of their own; and his warning to those
who called themselves believers in Christ. Most easy and
perfectly clear is the practical application to all times, and in
particular when a mass of persons assume a right by inheritance
to the privileges of the people of God. Besides this, the epistle
has peculiar force for the individual conscience; it judges the
position one is in, and the thoughts and intents of the
heart.